Train and station quide



Sept. '1, I925.

P. FLANAGAN TRAIN AND STATION GUIDE Fm ar'ch 5, 1925 2 snmwhm 1 Invention v f K 6% WM? 2. WW A2 7% i 4 Sept. 1, 1925.

Patented Sept. 1, 1925.

1,551,946 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE.

PATRICK FLANAGAN, or SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

TRAIN AND STATION GUIDE.

Application filed March 5, 1925. Serial No. 13,305.-

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PATRICK FLANAGAN, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city and county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Train and Station Guides, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates in general to that class of guides, adapted for railway stations, and which have for their object the announcement of trains, their times of movement and the stations for which they are bound. In particular, my invention relates to that type of such guides which employ rocking bars having station name faces and blank faces; and associated operating and control means whereby, at will, the-bars are rocked selectively, in order to expose and to conceal either face, said guides having also a controllable time-indicating member, an adjustable train-name and train-number indicator, and such fixed readinginscriptions as are necessary to convey the full information required.

A guide of this type is disclosed in Letters Patent No. 784,257 granted to me March 7, 1905, and as my present invention is an improvement upon this guide, reference is especially made to it for a more complete understanding of the particulars in which I have improved it both with respect to structure and operation.

The chief object of my present invention and the essential feature thereof is the simplification of the movement of the rocking bars and of their control devices, the latter being reduced in number and concentrated conveniently and safely.

Another object is to add to the guide a selective train number and train name indicator, and to provide for its operation and for the operation of the time indicating member by means conveniently and safely arranged and assembled in immediate association with station-name-bar controls.

. These and other objects. together with the structural nature of my improvements will hereinafter fully appear from the following description and in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which- Fig. 1 is a front elevation of my guide.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on the line a e of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an end view of one of the station-name bars showing its eccentrically lo- F 8 is a detail elevation of the name-- bar resetting means showing the normal ele,- vated position. 1

Fig. 9 is a detail of the same showing said means depressed for resetting.

Fig. 10 is a vertical section, enlarged, of

my guide taken on the line 101O of Fig. l'.

Fig. 11 is a vertical section, enlarged, on the line 11 of Fig. 1. p

l. is a case of suitable structure and dimensions, provided with interior partitions 2 and 2. The partition 2 on one side, together with a door 3 which is adapted for lock and key control, at 3 constitutes a chamber l,.as shown in Fig. 2, in which all the operating controls are conveniently and afely housed.

In the face of the case 1 is an opening 4 which is-h'oriZontally traversed by a plurality of separated slats 5, in the spaces between which are exposed station-name bars 6. These bars are preferably of a sectorshaped cross section, as seen in Figs. 8, 4 and 10, and each is carried upon a rock shaft 7 mounted pivotally inthe partition walls 2 and 2 of the case, Fig. 2, one end of the shafts extending well into the control chamber 1 in order to carry the control members.

One of the plane faces of each bar 6 carries the inscription of the station name as shown in the upper bars of Fig 1, while the other plane face is left blank as shown in the lower bars; and in practice, the latter faces are best painted black, so that when all the bars are turnedblack face out,-the front of the case is a blackboard, and this stands out clearly in contrast with any one or more of. said bars which may be turned name-face out, as in Fig. 1.

It is to be noted as characteristic of the present improvement, and as shownin Figs. 3 and 4:, that the axis about which the bars 6 rock is eccentricto their center of gravity, and this eccentricity is, with intention,

such that the name-face of each bar is normally and automatically by gravity alone, exposed to View in the spaces between the slats 5 and remains so untilit. is turned upwardly and inwardly, as shown in Fig. 2, whereupon the blackboard or blank face of the bar comes into view, and is there held positively by the controls to be now described.

" Upon the projecting end of each rockshaft 7 within the control chamber 1 is a collar 8 with a catch 9, Figs. 5 to 9 and Fig. 11. Upon the partition 2 are pivoted the trip-latcheslO. Each latch has at one end a retaining hook 11 and at the other end afinger rest 12, Fig. 7, for convenient operating pressure. The length of the latch is such as to provide for the engagement of its hook 11 with the catch 9 of the collar 8, when said catch is turned to its inner upper position, as in Fig. 5, and the point of pivot of the latch is such that the latch drops by gravity to this engagement. The catch 9 is aligned with the name-face of the bar 6, so that when the engagement of said catch by the latch hook 11 is effected, the

bar6 lieswith its name-face concealed and its blank face exposed. Then by pressing on the finger rest 12 of any one or more of the latches 10, the corresponding bar or bars.

6 will by gravity rock through a quadrant arc and expose the name-face.

I In order to reset or restore the bars,there is mounted, as shown in Fig. 11, in the control chamber 1, a vertically slidable bar or rod 13 adapted to be depressed manually, and to rise under the influence of a weight. This is effected by a lever 14L pivotally mounted at 15. One end of the lever carries a weight 16, the other end being provided with a finger hold 17. Between the finger hold 17 and the pivotal point 15, the lever is freely slotted at 18 over a pin 19 on the rod 13.

The rod 13 at intervals is provided with studs 20 arranged alternately on opposite sides as seen in Fig. 11, and which are adapted for sliding contact with crank arms 21 carried bythe rock shafts 7 'ofthe bars 6 and passing alternately, to avoid interference. on opposite sides of the rod. The relative arrangement of these studs and crank arms isksuch that asthe rod,13v is moved down by pressure on the finger hold 17, the studs 20 come down uponandsli de along the crank arms, with the effect of turning the bars 6 name-side up and inward to concealedl position. When the pressure on the finger rest 17 is released,the rod 13 rises to 1tS1'101'ma1fpOS1tlQI1, under the, influence of the-weight 16, leaving the bars 6 in the -po sition. described. 1 FigsQS, .9and 11 clearly illustrate these movements. i.

In the upper portion of the face of the case'l is fitted a clock'dial 22 having: the

shaft 24 by bevel gears 27 'having its upper end connected with the In the face of the case above the clock dial, there is a sight opening 28, Figs. 1 and 10, behind which a section of the surface of a traveling belt 29, Fig. 10, may be seen. This beltis mounted, as'seen in Fig. 10, upon rolls'30 mounted in the case; and upon the surface of the belt are'inscribed the numbers and names of trains, one of such inscriptions being shown in Fig. 1. The beit is conveniently moved by means of a shaft 31, Fig. 11, within the control chamber, having a turning knob 32 and transmitting gears 33. v

The operation of the guide is as follows In its inoperative condition it discloses nothing, since it presents its blackboard or 1 blank face, all the bars 6 having been reset to conceal their stat1on-name faces, and said bars are held in this position by the gravity engagement of the latches 10 with the catch collars 8 of the rock shafts 7 which carry said bars. Also theresetting rod 13 is normally held up by the weight 16 inv an inactive position. Moreover, the controls of saidbars and of the clock member 22 and c 10. By this last named act, the latches release the catch collars 8, and thereupon the eccentrically pivoted bars 6 turn by gravity and droptheir station name faces into view, as shown 1n two instances 1n Fig. 1. The

door 3 is then closed and locked. hen

the time comes for changing the guide, the

operator again opens the door 3; resets the train number and train-designating belt 29 and the time member 22. He then presses down the finger hold 17, and this moves the resetting rod 13 down, whereby the studs 20 of said rod, acting on the crank arms 21 of the bar-shafts 7, cause the name exposing bars 6 'to'rock back again to "conceal said names; and as the catch collars 8 of said shafts 7 slip under the gravity latches 10 the latter automatically drop to engagement with said collars and thus hold the bars. Upon releasing the pressure on the finger hold 17 the resetting rod 13 under the influence of the weight 16 rises to normal initial position. Thereupon the operator selects the new trip latches and operates them as before described to allow the new stations to be indicated. Of course, where any condition is present which does not require a complete change in the station names, only such bars 6 are reset and only such others are exposed as may be necessary, and there is nothing in the assemblage of the controls to interfere with such selection.

It will now be seen that in my present improvement I have dispensed with independent weights to effect the rocking of the name bars, making them instead more delicately automatic by eccentrically pivoting them, and this provides for the automatic control of them by the gravity latches. Also I have reversed the movement of the resetting rod by making its operative stroke subject to downward ,pressure instead of, as in my previous machine, to a lifting action. This results in easier manipulation. Also I have placed all the controls compactly and safely in onevicinity.

I claim 1. A guide for the described purpose, comprising a case having an opening in its face; multiple-faced bars within the case adapted to expose their faces in said, opening, one face of each bar bearing a station name, its adjacent face being blank; means for mounting each of said bars for rocking movement about an axis eccentric to its center of gravity and so related thereto as to normally expose by gravity its name face; means for turning said bars to conceal their name faces within the case and to expose their blank faces; and means for trippably retaining said bars in said last named position.

2. A guide for the described purpose comprising a case having an opening'in its face; multiple-faced bars within the case adapted to expose their faces in saidopening, one face of each bar bearing a station name, its adjacent face being blank; rock shafts .carrying said bars for movement about an axis eccentric to their center of gravity and so related thereto as to normally expose by gravity their name faces; means for turning said bars to conceal said name faces within the case and to expose their blank faces; catch collars on said rock shafts; and gravity trip latches to automatically engage said collars totrippably retain said bars in said last named position.

3. A guide for the described purpose comprising a case having an opening in its face;

multiple-faced bars within the case adapted to expose their faces in said opening, one face of each bar bearing a station name, its adjacent face being blank; rock shafts carrying said bars for movement about an axis eccentric to their center of gravity and so related thereto as to normally expose by gravity their name faces; means for turning said bars to conceal said name faces within the case and to expose their blank faces, consisting of crank arms on said rock shafts, and an automatically normally elevated slidable rod having studs adapted to engage said crank arms upon the downward stroke of the rod; and means for trippably retaining said bars in said last named position.

4. A guide for the described purpose comprising a case having an opening in its face; multiple-faced bars within the case adapted to expose their faces in said opening, one face of each bar bearing a station name, its adjacent face being blank; rock shafts carrying said bars for movement about an axis eccentric to their center of gravity and so related thereto as to normally expose by gravity their name faces; means for turning said bars to conceal said name faces within the case and to expose their blank faces, consisting of crank arms on said rock shafts, and an automatically normally elevated slidable rod having studs adapted to engage said crank arms upon the downward stroke of the rod; and means for trippably retaining said bars in said last named position, consisting of catch collars on said rock shafts, and gravity trip latches to automatically engage said collars.

5. A guide for the described purpose, com prising a case having an opening in its face, a second opening thereabove and a vertical door controlled chamber at one side; multiple-faced bars mounted within said case and adapted to expose their faces in said first named opening, one face of said bars bearing station names, the adjacent face being blank; rock shafts carrying said bars, one endof said shafts extending into the side chamber of the case; means within said chamber for rocking said shafts; means within said chamber for trippably holding the shafts against rocking; a movable member mounted within the case and bearing train designations adapted to be exposed in the second face opening ofthe case; means within the side chamber of the case for operating said member; a time designator carried in the face of the case between its face openings; and means within the side chamber of the case for adjusting said time designator. I

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

PATRICK FLANAGAN. 

